We're bidding a fond farewell to floppy disks. Not everybody
has a Zip drive, and SuperDiscs can't be read by regular floppy
drives; but you'll be hard pressed to find a computer that
doesn't have a CD-ROM drive. That flat tray that looks an awful
lot like a cup holder is the key to widely compatible removable
storage. So, in today's CD-R-friendly climate, with prices
dropping and speeds acceler-ating, it's time to either replace
your old 2x CD-R or buy a brand-new CD-RW of your own.

While the music applications are obvious, the business potential
is something to really tap your toes to. Backing up files is an
often-neglected task, but CD-RWs at least offer a convenient format
and 650MB of space for your important data. No mere floppy can
claim that. Fast burn speeds and cheap media make it less of a
headache to create several backup copies for safekeeping.

With CD-ROMs being a fairly universal medium, they can also be
quite effective as communication tools. Put a PowerPoint
presentation onto a CD, and you've got a customer handout. HTML
documents, company information, PDF files, forms and references can
be passed around in CD format. If your computers aren't
networked, CD-ROMs can be a handy way to transfer large chunks of
data and files from machine to machine.

Are You RW Or Not?

There used to be one choice for burning your own CDs: CD-R. Then
CD-RW drives came on the scene, but you had to pay big bucks to get
one. Now CD-RWs are the norm, and prices have fallen well below
$300 for many models. With even the cost of the medium dropping,
CD-R-only drives are becoming an endangered species. While CD-RW
drives can write to CD-R discs, CD-R drives can't write to
CD-RW discs. Buying a CD-RW increases your options.

The Toshiba SD-R1002 is in a class all its own. It can 4x write,
4x rewrite, play 24x CD-ROMs and play DVDs at 4x. At $289 (street)
for the Toshiba, it's clear that DVD capability doesn't add
too much to prices. You can get faster write and rewrite speeds in
non-DVD drives for about the same amount of money, but, well, you
can't access DVDs with them.

Speed Demons

One of the fastest CD-RWs in our table is the Plextor PlexWriter
12/10/32A. It records at 12x, rewrites at 10x and plays back at
32x. Although the Plextor has a top write speed of 12x, it can also
write at 8x, 4x and 1x (handy when using discs that can't
handle fast burn speeds). Using the example of a music CD, if you
are burning 60 minutes of audio onto a CD-R disc, the Plextor drive
would record it at 12x, taking about 5 minutes to write the disc. A
drive that recorded at 4x would take about 15 minutes to burn the
same disc. Speeds are always given assuming optimum system
performance; actual speeds will vary with the configuration of your
computer and the type of interface you're currently using.

A drive's buffer memory size can affect how smoothly the
burning goes, with 2MB of memory standard. The Hewlett-Packard HP
CD-Writer 9200i/e and Ricoh MediaMaster MP7080A both come with 4MB
buffers. The larger size should help cut down on the errors arising
from buffer problems.

Besides speed, you'll also have to decide whether you want
an external or an internal drive. If you don't want to pry open
the lid of your computer or pay somebody else to pry open the lid
of your computer, you'll want to buy an external drive. If you
like to work on your computer's innards, an internal drive
offers the advantages of being less expensive and more out of the
way. But you'll be able to take an external drive from machine
to machine. The HP CD-Writer Plus 92100i/e comes in both internal
and external versions. At $275 (street), the internal version is
$124 less ex-pensive than the external version.

Check the "Shopping List" on page 75 and you'll
see that most internal CD-RWs connect through EIDE, the same as
most hard drives and CD-ROM drives. Usually you can pull out or
disconnect your old plain CD-ROM drive if you have space
considerations or compatibility problems. There's always Velcro
if you're short an open drive bay but still have EIDE room.

Probably the simplest hookup is through USB. In our chart, the
$250 APS USB Pro2 offers 4x write, 4x rewrite and 24x read speeds
through computers' already existing USB ports. This type of
drive is an option to consider, especially for iMacs or PCs without
legacy slots. For faster external drives, SCSI is the preference.
Setting it up takes longer than USB and might require that you
install a SCSI card. The HP CD-Writer 9200i/e is an example of an
external SCSI CD-RW.

A special class of CD-RW drives has been developed for pure
port-ability. These external drives are built to work with laptop
computers and maintain lightweight profiles. The Panasonic
KXL-RW10A is a good example. It weighs in at just under 13 ounces,
and it measures 5.12 inches by 6.41 inches by .96 inches.
Connection is through an open PCMCIA slot on your laptop. It's
a good idea for road warriors that need to back up data on the
go.

Disc-Overy

If you tried to buy CD-RW discs a year and a half ago, you
probably shelled out $5 per disc. But media prices have dipped, and
CD-Rs can now be bought in bulk for as low as 50 cents apiece.
CD-RWs can be found for less than $1 each. Large quantities are
where you'll find the best prices. Spindles of 50 or 100 discs
without cases are sold everywhere from CompUSA to any number of
stores online. Prices for these generally range from $25 to $100
per spindle.

However, not all discs are created equal. When trying out a new
brand or disc type, test a few before you invest in a large
spindle. If you get lots of burn errors or problems with
readability, try another brand. Higher prices don't necessarily
equate to higher quality. Unless rewriting is a must, cheaper CD-R
discs are suitable for most jobs. CD-RWs are handy for daily backup
chores.

OK, now that you've burned a CD, what next? First off, never
use ballpoint pens to mark on CDs-the pens' sharp points can
damage them. Use felt-tip permanent markers or markers manufactured
just for that purpose. But if you're handing a CD-ROM to a
prospective client, your illegible chicken scratches won't make
the best impression anyway. For a more professional look, you can
try a program like Stomp Inc.'s (www.stompsoft.com) CD Stomper Pro, a
do-it-yourself labeling kit that includes labels for inkjet
printing, software to design those labels and a device to put the
sticky labels on CDs. The street price is $40. Neato (www.neato.com) offers a similar kit
called the Neato 2000 CD Labeler Kit for $30 (street).

For those of you with exotic tastes in business cards, a CD-RW
drive lets you take advantage of BizNetCard's (www.biznetcard.com) Do-It-Yourself
CD Business Card Kit for $79.95. The CD-Rs included with the kit
look like CDs that have been trimmed down to near business card
size (CDs don't have to be round). What you burn on the discs
is up to you. With 50MB of data capacity, you could include your
Web page, references or presentations as well as contact
infor-mation. Labels, software and 12 mini-CDs are included.

Suite Talk

Chances are, when you buy a CD-RW drive it will come with a
suite of software for handling everything from copying CDs to
arranging data for burning. Adaptec's Easy CD Creator (for PCs)
and Adaptec's Toast (for Macs) are two of the most commonly
bundled programs. The TDK veloCD ReWriter comes with one of the
most compre-hensive sets of software. Included in the package are
Adaptec Easy CD Creator, Adaptec Direct CD for drag-and-drop
writing, TDK Pure-Dupe for copying, TDK Digital MixMaster for
organizing audio, MusicMatch Jukebox for creating MP3s and Adobe
ActiveShare for arranging digital photos.

Other programs are available to make your CD-burning experience
more productive. CD-R Diagnostic from CD-ROM Productions (www.cdrom-prod.com) lets you test
CDs and recover data. This can be helpful for tracking down
mysterious problems and sources of error messages. While the
occasional coaster is inevitable, you can at least cut down on
their numbers.

Glossary

Buffer: a temporary holding
area for data as it's being transferred to CD media during the
writing or rewriting process

CD-R: Compact
Disc-Recordable; describes a CD that can be written on all at once
or in sessions, but cannot be overwritten or reused. Most of these
hold 650MB of data.

CD-RW: Compact
Disc-Rewritable; describes a CD that can be used again and
again